World Building in Speculative Fiction

Catalog description

This course explores the art of building characters and worlds in Speculative Fiction through a workshop format. Students will read and analyze several master works of speculative world-building in a variety of traditions, such as NK Jemisin’s The Fifth Season (Science Fiction/Dystopian), and Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Science Fiction). Along with these novels, students will read/discuss craft talks from famous writers of Speculative. In addition to reading and analyzing characters and world-building from professional writers, students will also be constructing their own scenes and critiquing their drafts through a peer review/workshop process.